Red and Black Hockey

On Tuesday night, the Hurricanes got a boost to their slim playoff hopes, but there is an asterisk. The Sabres lost 4-3 in regulation to the Maple Leafs and the Hurricanes grabbed a huge 3-2 win on the road at Washington. This two-point gain puts Carolina just three points back of the Sabres, and Sunday’s showdown looks really huge right now. The only unfortunate thing is that Carolina’s win came via the shootout. Carolina has two fewer ROW wins than Buffalo, so as of right now, a potential standings tiebreaker would go to the Sabres.

Jussi Jokinen scored a power play marker in the second and Jeff Skinner scored a huge goal early in the third. In the shootout, Skinner scored in the top of the first. The Caps missed their first two shots, then Tuomo Ruutu iced it for the Canes with a successful shot in the top of the third.

Cam Ward made 38 saves to give him 2006 saves on the season. He’s just the sixth goaltender since the lockout to record more than 2000 saves in a single season.

After a scoreless first period, the Hurricanes took the lead at 2:29 of the second on a Jussi Jokinen power play goal It was the third straight game that the Hurricanes have scored a power play goal. This normally wouldn’t be worth talking about, but since this run is coming after a really bad stretch of seven games without one, it’s kind of a big deal.

The Caps struck twice late in the middle period to take a 2-1 lead to the locker room. Alexander Semin at 14:18 and Marcus Johansson at 17:35.

At 1:46 of the third, rookie sensation Jeff Skinner notched his 27th of the season with a shot from the left circle that fluttered past Semyon Varlamov.

At the end of regulation, Cam Ward had made 33 saves, and he added five more in the overtime period. Carolina didn’t register any shots on goal in the bonus frame, where they really wanted to get the job done. They still ended up getting the two standings points, but they didn’t get another tally in the ROW column, and that might be a problem.

In the shootout, the Caps made the call to shoot second, which would be my choice every time. Carolina sent their normal trio of Skinner, Jokinen and Ruutu out there. Skinner scored five hole on his shot. Ward made a stop on Alex Ovechkin. Jokinen hesitated and was stopped by Varlamov. Nick Backstrom shot wide. Ruutu scored, and the Caps third shooter was irrelevant.

Carolina will back at it on Wednesday night with a home game against Les Habitants, who won 3-1 at home against the Thrashers on Tuesday. Also on Wednesday night, the Sabres will be hosting the Rangers. There’s a chance, then, for Carolina to climb within one point of Buffalo. It’s crazy, but if all goes well there, there’s a good chance that Carolina could overtake Buffalo on Saturday, just one day before the huge showdown. On Saturday, Carolina plays on Long Island while the Sabres play at Washington. I’ve been telling people that Carolina’s playoff hopes are already over, but tonight’s turn of events wasn’t expected at all.

Comments

emotionless - fact-based post. The first paragraph doesn’t end well either. Outta here

Posted by
Scott
from FL on 03/30/11 at 10:54 AM ET

Scott, I know the post is clinical and all that, but I’m trying not to get overly excited about one win when they’re still three points out of eighth with just six games to play.

Watching this team over the past six weeks, there hasn’t been much to get emotional about. The last four games notwithstanding, they’ve been awful on the power play. They haven’t given Cam Ward any run support. Some key players (Joni Pitkanen, for example) have been flatlining in the second half of the season. They can’t put together a run of good games. They lose to teams they shouldn’t lose to. They piss away standings points. They haven’t won any games decisively.

Even though they’re still lurking, they’re just not playing like a playoff team. If they put together a great run in the final six, they’re still going to need some outside help.

It’s an emotionless post, I’ll agree. Perhaps I’ve gotten a little emotionless about them as they’ve gotten emotionless about themselves.

I got careless and didn’t notice my incomplete sentence there at the end of that first paragraph. I’ve fixed it now.

I was visiting friends and family down in NC last week and got to go to the Canes-Sens game. I’m not a Canes fan, but my uncle has season tickets so I went to games a lot when I was stationed @ Seymour Johnson a few years back, so I do enjoy watching them play and seeing them do well.

Anyway, watching them in that game, I was wondering why they don’t play a more aggressive game. It seems like they have the players where they should be getting in on the forecheck more often and aggressively. Granted, I don’t watch them all that much or know a ton about them, it was just something I came away thinking that night.

As a Caniac yourself, is that a justifiable query, or am I totally off base?

Also, I see what you mean by them playing emotionless at times. They looked lost against the terrible Senators until it was 2-0 Ottawa. After that, though, 4 straight goals. I’m rooting for them to sneak in past Buffalo here the next couple of weeks!

Posted by David Lee from Greensboro, NC on 03/30/11 at 05:50 PM ET

I really don’t think you need to explain yourself. If these people don’t like what you write, they don’t have to read it. Mistakes happen.